•Politico says that in a speech Friday night in Wisconsin, former Gov.Sarah Palin took issue with the design of the new dollar coin, suggesting that President Barack Obama may be pulling a fast one.
In addition to the suggestion that government officials would consider hastening the death of the infirm or handicapped, she began her remarks with a puzzling commentary on the design of newly minted dollar coins.
Noting that there had been a lot of “change” of late, Palin recalled a recent conversation with a friend about how the phrase “In God We Trust” had been moved to the edge of the new coins.
“Who calls a shot like that?” she demanded. “Who makes a decision like that?”
She added: “It’s a disturbing trend.”
Unsaid but implied was that the new Democratic White House was behind such a move to secularize the nation’s currency.
But the new coins – concerns over which apparently stemmed from an email chain letter widely circulated among conservatives – were commissioned by the Republican-led Congress in 2005 and approved by President Bush."
For more, read Jonathan Martin’s story on Politico, http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1109/29267.html
I spent some time this afternoon sorting out the answer to Palin’s question: “Who makes a decision like that?”
There is no mystery about it.
On Dec. 22, 2005, the “Presidential $1 Coin Act of 2005” was signed by President Bush. The law stipulated that the words “E Pluribus Unum” and “In God We Trust” “shall be edge-incused into the coin.”
The sponsor of the bill, Delaware Republican Rep. Mike Castle, spoke on the House floor about the virtute of putting “In God We Trust” on the side of the coin.
“This bill is unique. It has on the side edge incusing, which means on the side of the coin you are going to have what we have above you, Mr. Speaker: ‘In God We Trust’ and ‘E Pluribus Unum’ will be on there. It will be gold in color, and it will represent the various Presidents who served our country. It is going to be tremendously educational.”
In an “Ask the White House” Q&A on Aug. 1, 2006, the U.S. Treasurer in the Bush administration responded to a question by saying, "it may interest you to know that the U.S. Mint is currently working on designs for new dollar coins on which the motto and year of the coin will be displayed on the side edges as opposed to the face of the coin."
Almost exactly two years after agreeing to put the words on the side of the dollar coin, Congress reversed itself. A lot of critics interpreted the decision to put the words on the side as a way of downplaying the message.
On Dec. 18, 2007, Sen. Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican, spoke on the floor of the U.S. Senate about the motto, but did not say that it was the Congress that decided to put the motto on the side of the coin.
“In 1955, the phrase was required for all new coins, and in 1956 Congress officially endorsed ``In God We Trust’’ as the national motto. Therefore, I was troubled to learn that the words ``In God We Trust’’ do not appear on the face of the new Presidential coins. These words are barely visible and almost hidden on the edge of the new coins. To rectify this situation, we have included language in this bill that will require the U.S. Mint to return our national motto to the front of the coin,” Brownback said.
Ain't any different than an inscription on your wedding ring in my book. You can hawk those as well; it's just a material thing when it's all said and done.
Am I the only one who sees what's going on here?
Do you really think you are a journalist?
According to the Federal Reserve Bank's Atlanta website: "The Director of the Mint selects designs for U.S. coins with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, although Congress may prescribe a coin design. A design may not be changed more often than every 25 years unless Congress determines otherwise." In this case, the sponsor of the bill prescribing the coin design was Republican Mike Castle, and Congress voted its approval.
When I am planning a speech or written presentation, I fact-check everything I say. With the instant availability of information from legislation to newspaper archives online, there is no excuse for sloppy or inaccurate statements, especially from someone who would like to be President of the United States. Palin obviously has access to a computer and the internet. Either she chooses not to access information that would prevent her from making statements or concocting innuendos that are patently false, or she does so deliberately.
What is this? "Sarah and Todd's Excellent Adventure"?
Money IS America's god, so it's only fitting that we label the money with "God's" name.
It's ironic though, that the Bible says the love of money is the root of all evil, then America goes and puts "God" right on the very thing He pronounced as evil. Our entire culture is steeped in the love of money. If there is a Christian God, He most certainly would not be a capitalist after saying that "capital" was the root of all evil, ya think?
As for the rationale behind the words "In God we Trust" one can argue it was part of the fundamentalists attempt (along with mcCarthyism) to subvert the nation into a (sharia-law style) Christian theocracy, or that it's an attack by the liberal mind-control elitists to stamp out religion in our nation, or that it really has no secret meaning and is just about anti-counterfeiting measures!
So, which "Side" are you on, and what can you contribute to the partisan-izing of America?
Why put any writing on the edge of a coin? If we all had the answer to that question maybe we could all understand the relevance of our comments.
I would guess that if you wanted something to be read you would put it where a standard someone could actually read it. "Standard someone" defined here as someone other than those with a magnifying glass or the ability to read braille.
The discussion should not be centered on the wording that was moved from the face of the coin to the edge of the coin. I think we should discuss who was/were the idiots that wasted their time coming up with this new design and who were the complete morons that used their authority to allow it.
And if "edge writing" on coins is to be the new standard for presidential coins why don't we put the presidents name on the edge instead. Got any problem with that?
I didn't know about edge writing on a coin until I read this article. If I would have read the original news release (if there ever was one) on congress passing the coin writing edge law my first response would have been, "Who makes a decision like that?"
Who cares?
Sarah who?
Why are we giving this air time?
And: With all the issues in the country,
the most scandalous, biggest problem to
spend time and energy on is where on a
coin the In God We Trust phrase is put????
God help us all.
Makes me wonder if her dad wasn't actually part of Aryan Nations while they were living in Idaho after all. Otherwise,
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
pass the Beano, please.
She is a savant for taking non-issues and using them to inflame people into a fervor. It's scary.
"Palin had remarks prepared but frequently wandered off-script to make a point, offering audience members a casual “awesome” or “bogus” in discussing otherwise weighty topics," Jonathan Martin wrote in his review.
He quotes Palin as saying, “It is so bogus that society is sending a message right now and has been for probably the last 40 years that a woman isn’t strong enough or smart enough to be able to pursue an education, a career and her rights and still let her baby live.”
"In addition to the suggestion that government officials would consider hastening the death of the infirm or handicapped, she began her remarks with a puzzling commentary on the design of newly minted dollar coins.
Noting that there had been a lot of “change” of late, Palin recalled a recent conversation with a friend about how the phrase “In God We Trust” had been moved to the edge of the new coins.
“Who calls a shot like that?” she demanded. “Who makes a decision like that?”
She added: “It’s a disturbing trend.”"
No, the disturbing trend is that Palin keeps on makin' stuff up, and people keep payin' to listen to her!